William was Sheriff of Herefordshire , 1192-99 , and, in 1196 , Justice Itinerant for Staffordshire . He accompanied Richard I to Normandy in 1195 . He supported John 's claim to the throne, witnessing various royal grants , and he was in attendance on John in Normandy at the time of Arthur 's death ( 1203 ). He also served in the French war of 1204 . He was high in John 's favour and acquired vast possessions, being granted the right to conquer territories from the Welsh ( 1200 ). He seized Elfael ( 1191 ) and in 1196 acquired full rights in Barnstaple by agreement with the co-heir. In 1200 he received the Honour of Limerick on payment of 5,000 marks at 500 marks a year, and, later, the town of Limerick . He became lord of Gower ( 1203 ) and of the Three Castles ( 1205 ). In 1207 he suddenly fell from grace, largely because of his failure to meet the charges on his estates. His English estates were distrained and the royal army occupied his Welsh territories, William and his family fleeing to Ireland . Here they were pursued, his wife and eldest son being captured, eventually to be starved to death at Windsor . William himself escaped to France , where he d. 9 Aug. 1211 . He was buried at the Abbey of S. Victor , Paris .

The claim to the Braose lands was taken up by his son, GILES , bishop of Hereford , who, in 1213 , returned from exile in France , supporting the cause of the barons and gaining the adherence of Llywelyn the Great . He recovered possession of the family estates in Wales and on 21 Oct. 1215 made his peace with the Crown , but he died a month later. His brother, REGINALD , seized possession, and not until after the death of John did he come to terms with the Crown , 23 June 1217 . Reginald 's defection roused the anger of Llywelyn , who attacked his lands of Brecon and Gower and supported the claim to the family lands of JOHN BRAOSE , the eldest of the four sons of Reginald 's brother William , who had starved to death in 1210 . The four sons — JOHN , GILES , PHILIP , and WALTER — were released from captivity in 1218 . John is said to have been brought up secretly by a Welshman in Gower , and he was later given into the custody of bishop Giles , his uncle. John 's claim, however, was not sustained in the courts, but Reginald , by a convention, ceded to him the baronies of Gower and Bramber and thus was established the junior branch of the family in its own right. Reginald d. June 1228 and was succeeded by his son, WILLIAM , the 7th baron , husband of Eva Marshall . He was captured by Llywelyn the Great in 1228 during the campaign in Kerry , but was released on payment of a ransom. He further agreed to the marriage of his daughter, Isabel , with David , son of Llywelyn . Later, on a visit to Llywelyn 's court , he was involved in an intrigue with Llywelyn 's wife and was hanged ( 3 May 1230 ). With his death the male line of this, the main, branch of the family ceased, and the inheritance was divided between his four daughters, the family name surviving in the line of JOHN BRAOSE , baron of Gower and Bramber .

John was killed at Bramber in 1232 by a fall from his horse . He left a widow, Margaret , daughter of Llywelyn the Great , and two sons, the elder of whom, WILLIAM , succeeded him as 2nd baron , while the younger, JOHN , became lord of the manor of Corfham and later of Glasbury . William m. (1) Olive de Moulton , (2) Agnes , daughter of Nicholas de Molis , (3) Mary de Rus , founding a vigorous stock, the several families retaining their identity and succeeding to the family claims on the maternal side. By his third wife, William had two sons, RICHARD (d. 1292 ) and PETER (d. 1312 ). Richard m. Alice de Longespee , their numerous descendants holding the manors of Whittingham and Akenham , Suffolk ; Stinton , Norfolk ; Ludborough, Lincs. ; Knolton , Dorset ; etc. Peter de Braose held the manors of Tetbury, Gloucs. ; Maningford, Wilts. ; Chersworth and Sedgwick , Sussex ; but with the death in infancy of his great-grandson in 1395 , his family came to an end.